Indo-Israel Joint Working Groups on Homeland and Public Security to Meet in Feb 2018

During the recent visit of the Israeli prime minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli companies have agreed to enter into joint ventures with Indian companies in the defence sector under the Make in India initiative. In future, the defence sector of both countries shall set the roadmap for developing more business models for partnerships and joint manufacturing, which shall include transfer of technology and research and development in the security fields. As part of this initiative, the defence ministries of both countries shall hold discussions during 2018 to encourage the public and private sectors to create sustainable and long-term cooperation in this regard.

Both prime ministers stressed upon the need to fight terrorism jointly and dwelled upon the need to undertake strong measures against terrorists and their parent organisations, nations that harbour these terrorists and promote and sponsor their nefarious designs. As part of this initiative it was decided that the next meeting of the Joint Working Groups on Homeland and Public Security shall be held during February 2018. They also emphasised on the importance of building close cooperation in counter terrorism operations, including cyber space and signed an MoU on Cooperation in Cyber Security between the two countries.

The two prime ministers also agreed on exploring ways to create programmes to assist other nations in areas of training, capacity building and development of projects in agriculture, water, healthcare and education. They believe that strong and robust and multi-level cooperation between the two nations is crucial for the welfare of the people of both countries and believe that over the next 25 years provide a good opportunity to strengthen the bonds between the people of India and Israel through activities that enhance understanding and create avenues for mutual progress.